the sewing post

We've had some hot weather lately. I'm not complaining - I like the hot. I just prefer it at the cottage, in a Muskoka chair, feet in the lake, frosty beverage at hand, good friends nearby. Anyway, I've found it quite comfortable to hang out in our basement lately. Even though we do have air conditioning, I try not to set it too cold - I've never understood the need to wear a sweater inside the house in summer. However, our basement is always chilly, so it's a good place to hang when the temperature rises.

So, the basement just happens to be where my sewing room is, so I've been spending some quality time there. The nice thing about this is there are tangible results of time spent sequestered away with a sewing machine. Over the last couple of weeks, I've churned out a few nice summery tops, suitable for work and play.

Simplicity 3835: Great, simple summer top. The neckline is gathered with elastic, so it's very comfy, and it skims over the hips nicely. I used a black twill - this will be a bit heavy for any really hot days - twill fabric, dark colour, but when the temp is comfortable, so is this top. It looks great with the daisy border printed capris I made a while back.

Butterick 4074 (two versions): Very easy, very comfortable. Made each of these in one sitting. The pink print is a polyester organza type fabric I've had forever - I made the kerchief pointed bottom and sleeve with this - I'd do this bottom again, but not the sleeves - they get in the way. I actually had lunch at a salad bar the day I wore this, and was that a bad mistake. We won't even discuss the bathroom issues...

The other version is an ombre cotton print - I didn't have enough fabric for long sleeves, so I just made short ones.

Butterick 4812: White embroidered tunic. The fabric was already embroidered, so this took all of about 2 hours to put together. Hugely comfortable, but it does need to be ironed before each wearing. No biggie, I don't mind some ironing. It's a little large (I misjudged the amount of ease), but that's OK.

Butterick 5217: Another border fabric- I love the borders. It's a navy blue with tiny white pindots - very lightweight floaty fabric, so the border embroidery really helps it hang well. This pattern also has a sleeveless option, so I will probably make this again. I had to take it in a bit on the sides - I think Butterick may be sizing their patterns up a bit. I also should have ironed it!

Whew! It sure looks like a lot, but really, each of these tops took 1 evening, or 1 afternoon total. Very simple, which is how I like my summer sewing. All fabrics purchased at Fabricland, I think. The pink floral is quite a few years old, so I'm not sure of that one.